Diversity Executive - September 2008 - (Page 49)

and a grounding in our corporation’s core values and beliefs,” said CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg. “We depend on a network of diverse employees and suppliers to understand the marketplace and to help us anticipate and meet customers’ needs. For Verizon, an inclusive culture is a competitive advantage.” Indeed, the company’s Web site states diversity “is what builds customer loyalty, stimulates economic growth and draws out the entrepreneurship we need to compete.” To fully leverage diversity and inclusion for maximum advantage, Verizon has implemented a proactive, threepronged strategy. First, the corporate research team developed the inclusion index, a specialized survey that measures employees’ overall sense of belonging. The survey also measures employee satisfaction. Second, the company tracks the composition of its 232,000member workforce in each line of business, including the hiring and promoting of diverse candidates, and publishes that ﬁgure in its diversity performance index. The company reviews its diversity performance index every quarter and has board-level supervision of its progress. Third, while Verizon already spends nearly $2.6 billion a year with a diverse supplier community, it regularly measures its progress in this area to make sure it takes full advantage of the opportunities available. Additionally, Verizon’s senior management team, which itself is becoming more and more diverse, is fully invested in championing the company’s diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives. “The senior leader team at Verizon spends a lot of time meeting with employees, talking about our values and discussing how to incorporate diverse points of view into our outlook on the world,” Seidenberg said. Perhaps most importantly, the company can point to clear evidence of the success of its diverse and inclusive culture. For example, in 2007, Verizon was able to roll out service to customers in the Mid-Atlantic region who are deaf or hard of hearing, thanks to specially trained customer service representatives ﬂuent in sign language. This “dramatically enhanced the quality of service we can provide those customers,” Seidenberg said. The company is expanding this service to other parts of the country this year. Additionally, Verizon offers customers ﬁber-optic cable TV programming in many languages including Farsi, Russian, Vietnamese, French and Polish, thanks to its other multilingual employees. “The impact a culture of inclusion has had on Verizon is clear,” Seidenberg said. “We operate in some of the most diverse markets in this country and we offer services across the globe, so this is as much a business decision as it is about doing what’s right.” – Agatha Gilmore Kerry Killinger Washington Mutual Washington Mutual’s commitment to diversity fuels its business — one its more than 45,000 employees are excited to come to each day. The ﬁnancial services provider, which earned $14.22 billion in 2007, acknowledges that by embracing diversity, it is providing itself a competitive advantage. For this reason, it encourages employees to consistently bring their own piece of diversity to the workplace. “Every day, employees are encouraged to bring their varying experiences, backgrounds, knowledge and ideas to the table,” said CEO Kerry Killinger. “Every day, we draw upon the wisdom of our diverse backgrounds and life experiences to ﬁnd new and better ways to bring banking services to our customers and vitality to our communities.” Washington Mutual also is ﬁnding ways to serve multicultural markets on a daily basis. Through the use of bilingual ATMs, bilingual customer-service staff on its Language Line, as well as bilingual and multicultural marketing, the company is reaching a diverse customer set. And it is committed to employing a pool of talent that reﬂects that multicultural group. In 2007, Washington Mutual employed a workforce that included 48 percent people of color, 31 percent of which were at the managerial level. Further, 63 percent of its workforce consisted of women, including 51 percent in management. Recruiting in particular is a well-developed and inclusive area at Washington Mutual. The company makes an effort to attract candidates from welfare-to-work programs and partners with diverse groups such as the National Urban League, the National Association of Black Accountants and the Human Rights Campaign to reach out to a diverse set of candidates. It also attends conferences hosted by similar organizations, participates in minority job fairs and has created a one-year internship program for high schoolers, following which, students have the option to explore further employment with the company. Washington Mutual also has begun piloting employee network groups (ENG). There are three being formed currently: the Latino ENG, the African-American ENG and the GLBT ENG. The company sees these groups as a means for employees to develop themselves personally and professionally, and it plans to use the ENGs in future efforts to recruit, retain and advance a diverse talent pool. The company also has support and networking in place via a mentoring program focused on increasing diversity representation at the senior level. Senior and mid-level managers are the target populations for the initiative that is intended to accelerate professional development and enhance retention and engagement of WaMu’s diverse talent, resulting in a stronger September/October 2008 | www.diversity-executive.com | Diversity Executive 49 http://www.diversity-executive.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Diversity Executive - September 2008

Diversity Executive - September 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Leadership Connections Guest Editorial Diversity Executive Online 2042: A New Business Era Begins The Rules of Attraction Where to Look for Diverse Talent Like Minds Think Great Culture Teams Target Business Opportunities at Luxottica Retail Special Section Rebalancing Gender At ING Americas, the Color of Diversity Is Orange Profile Business Intelligence Case Study Strategies Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources

Diversity Executive - September 2008

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